Early Language Encounters
What fun stuff do you recall about your early experienecs with language? Please share your thoughtful, detailed, edited responses below.
Truth and Tragedy
In literature, a tragedy is a work in which the protagonist is brought to ruin as a consequence of a tragic flaw, a moral weakness, or the inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. The tagline for The Other Wes Moore is "The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his." What do you think the author means by this? Considering the definition above, do you see the Other Wes Moore's story as a tragedy? Pull your thoughts together and explain in one complete paragraph. Include text evidence in your response. Proofread and edit carefully before publishing.
I vaguely remember learning how to read, write, and speak properly at the young age of four. Some of my first books consisted of Dr. Seuss and Margaret Wise Brown books. I have such vivid memories of always reading, “Goodnight Moon”. It must have been a popular book when I was younger because everytime I see the cover I just remember reading the book. Dr. Seuss books were usually harder for me to read. I assume it was because of the unique language the author used that didn’t click into my young mind. Speaking properly when I was younger was definitely a struggle for me. To this day I still pronounce iron as earn and I can’t seem to fix that. I was a talkative kid so speaking came pretty easy for me. The more I spoke the more I learned to pronounce words easier and even expanded my vocabulary. I was a smart kid when it came to English, now I’m sort of a burnout.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, my parents always told me how important reading is. Everynight before bed, my parents would read me a book. Sometimes I would help them read it and point my finger to follow along. Thanks to them, I became a pretty strong reader at a young age. I really enjoyed the book called "A Bad Case of Stripes" by David Shannon. Maybe it was because his last name happened to be my first name. I wish I wouldn't have stopped reading so much. Now I don't really enjoy it and see it as more of a hassle. Writing was a bigger challenge for me. For years, my hand writing was so bad that I would get points off on tests. My mom would sit with me at the kitchen table and try to help but, I was so impatient I would just scribble shapes for letters on the pages. Talking was not so much of a problem. Every single year at school I would get my clip moved to yellow for talking. In fourth and seventh grade it was really bad. I just wanted to talk to my friends all the time. Through all of my talking, I still could never pronounce necessarily correctly. I never actually enjoyed speaking in front of an audience and even know my face turns red so easily. I can easily talk if its only 1-4 people or my friends, but anything more than that makes me very nervous.
ReplyDeleteReading was something I loved when I was younger, and I still love it today. Before I learned how to read I looked forward to when my dad, mom, or older brothers would read to me. Some of my favorite books when I was younger were “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, “Corduroy”, and “Goodnight Moon”. I started reading on my own when I was about 5. The first book I read on my own was “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss. I also have memories of learning to write. My mom would write my name at the top of a piece of paper, and I would try to copy the letters. I would also arrange my name and other family members' names on the fridge with magnetic letters. When I was younger I was very shy, and I didn’t enjoy talking to people; but overtime I became more comfortable talking in front of people.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, I did many crazy activities. Although when I was younger, I had many strange occurrences with my langue. My grandparents had filled my world with the wonders of educational cartoons, but my rotten kindergarten teacher would read books. Since teachers had nothing better to teach, I would hear them read “Green Eggs and Ham” every year. I will always loathe “Green Eggs and Ham”.
ReplyDeleteAlso when I was younger, I couldn't pronounce my grandfather's name. My cousin could perfectly pronounce Papa, and I was enraged with jealousy. My grandfather likes to tell me that I would turn as red as a tomato, but I refuse to believe that. Because I couldn't pronounce his name, my family pitied me. Before anyone could know it, my Papa had become a Fafa! I could perfectly pronounce it, and I was proud of myself.
When I was little, I would spend the night in my grandma's green ashtabula house. I never knew how to pronounce green correctly; I would say geen. She thought it was cute and funny so whenever we stopped at a stoplight she had me watch the light turn green, and i’d tell her. I would read Dr. Seuss books before I fell asleep; I have about thirty. They are now passed down to my little sister. His books were one of my favorites because of how creative he was. My favorite books were the “Berenstain bear” books series. I would trot around with them in my hand, and read them to my grandma. When I first started writing, I would mess up my lowercase D’s and B’s; I would make this mistake, until 7th grade.
ReplyDeleteAt a young age, I profoundly enjoyed reading every night. When I was little, I loved to read many different books. Some books read to me each night included "Green Eggs and Ham," by Dr. Seuss; "Lafcadio," by Shel Silverstein; and "Where the Sidewalk Ends," also by Silverstein. As with many people, I often had trouble saying certain words, such as saying "ambegembs" instead of ambulance. I remember writing in preschool, and for whatever reason my teacher thought that I spelled my name wrong. She was convinced that my name had 2 O's, when obviously it has one O and one A. She argued with me on the subject for a month or two, before I went to kindergarten. Before AES and AIS, I went to Watson Elementary. While I was there, I was a good student; however, I would have to move my clip frequently because I talked so much. I once had to move my clip to yellow, because I would not stop singing songs in class. I was in the spelling bee in 2nd grade, but I don't want to talk about it (I could have possibly finished last.)
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little I always had trouble pronouncing so many different words. The one I remember the most clearly is hospital. Instead of normally saying hospital, I would say hoskapital. I have no idea where I got the “ka” sounding from, but to this day my parents will still say hoskapital to mock me. Another cool thing from when I was little. My grandma’s name is Jan and my first word ever was when I called my grandma “Jan-ma” instead of grandma. Nobody knows how I knew to call her grandma in the first place or how I figured out that her name was Jan. That name has always stuck with her and my family all calls my grandma Jan-ma now.
When it comes to reading, I’m not sure the exact age I started to develop reading skills, but I have many memories. My favorite book was “Bert and Ernie go to the Grocery Store”. For some reason, I can remember very vividly that in the story Bert tied a string around his finger, so he wouldn’t forget to buy peanut butter at the store, but he still forgot to buy it. I remember that book the most out of the other ones because it was my dad’s book that he used to read when he was little. I don’t really remember much about learning to write. I can remember learning cursive on the big lined paper that had little dashes in the middle of the lined rows. I don’t remember learning how to hold a pencil or learning about regular print writing. For speaking, I remember I had to go to speech therapy because I would mix up the pronunciation of letters. I used to say book but with a t at the end, and I would say “conrete” instead of concrete. I said a lot of crazy things when I was little, but I think the funniest is that I recorded myself singing about having big muscles. I don’t know how I came up with the topic of muscles or why I was singing about it, but it was pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, I always read "The Kissing Hand". I remember how much I disliked reading, and I never wanted to learn how to do so. When my mom first read me this book, I loved it. I have read this book countless of times, but I can't seem to remember what it was about. I'm now sure that I only liked this book because of the pictures. I don't remember much of learning how to write in general, but I do remember learning how to write in cursive. My third grade teacher gave us books that helped us practice. A vivid memory I have was from second grade. I had a friend who told everyone his dad was a cop. Another kid in my class was getting surgery on his eye. We dedicated a whole day to making him get well cards. My friend put hearts on his card. I thought it was funny, so I laughed at him. He then threatened to get me arrested by his dad. From that day on, I was scared of him and kept my distance.
ReplyDeleteWhile learning how to speak as a child, I often wasn’t able to pronounce simple words and phrases such as “mommy” or “something to drink.” Instead, I would call my mother “bobby” and when I was thirsty I would ask for “fun fing to fink.” The first book I recall reading as a kid was Curious George The Deluxe Movie Storybook which is a masterpiece in modern American literature. The colorful illustrations grabbed my attention more than the text, and “Bobby” would read the story to me until I fell asleep each night. Before I was old enough to go to school, I watched Sesame Street. There I met my favorite english teacher Elmo, and he helped me develop phonological awareness.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little every Thursdays and Mondays my siblings and I would visit our nana. We would play games, talk about our day, and eat dinner as a family. One day I wanted to help my nana prepare dinner, although she gave me simple tasks and I was pleased I got to help her. She asked if I could grab the funnel from the drawer, I asked what a funnel was. She laughed and showed me where it was and what it looked like. Immediately I recognize what it actually was; I knew how to use it and what it was used for, but I just could not grasp on the name. After dinner, she grabbed the funnel and asked me again with the strange gadget was called. I stood there silently for what felt like hours, my nana started to laugh once more. From there on every time I saw her she asked what this gadget was, again and again I just could not grasp the word. It felt like there was a wall in my brain that was keeping me from spitting out the word. What really surprises me is that "funnel" is the most random word to have a mental block on, but I did. Now whenever I see my nana she reminds me of a time when I could not think of the word "funnel".
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, I did not enjoy reading. My mother would read to me, but I would not read to her; I didn’t enjoy it. I had a speech impediment and had trouble with certain sounds. My brother's name is Lance, and I called him ranch. My impediment caused my brother to tease me, and I eventually got in trouble with the words he would tell me to say. As I got older, my speech had gotten better. I eventually got an expander, and my speech was just as bad. My mom had told me to say words like beach; knowing exactly what I would end up saying.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little my family always used to go to my grandma’s house. We used to go over every friday for dinner, and they would always have the television on. My grandma would always be reading her newspaper, and would have the news on the television. I always wanted to watch “Spongebob Squarepants”. So I would go up to my grandma and pull on her pant leg. I would say bob because I was not able to say the full word. She knew I wanted SpongeBob because this would be the only word I could say. Then she would go over to the television, and then she would press some buttons on the Television. Then I would sit there, and I would watch “SpongeBob Squarepants” until dinner was ready to eat.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, my Dad would read to my brother and I before we went to sleep. His favorite book to read was, "The Three Little Pigs". He would have the book in one hand and act out the pigs with his other. He would sometimes stop and make us fill in the ending of the sentence. Every time he would stop to say what house, I would say any object I saw. Then we would all laugh. My brother would get mad and say he's going to bed. My Dad would then finish up the book; he then would tuck me in and kiss my forehead. While leaving, He stops to talk to my brother, and then he would flip the lights off while walking out the door.
ReplyDeleteI have always been told that I have been reading since I was born. When I was little, I would have my parents read to me for hours, and I used to memorize every word of the book. My mother told me that at 2 I memorized the book “Goodnight Moon” which was the first book I ever read, and I would recite the words of the book as she turned the pages. My grandmother loves to tell the story about her driving me to her house. There was a wooden bear carved out of a stump on the drive to her house, and I would always ask her to tell me a story about it. She would tell me a different story about it each time as she often forgot the last story she made up. When she did this, I would correct her and say that the previous story was different. After correcting her, I would tell the previous story on my own. She cracks up everytime she tells this story. My mother told me I had everyone read me books like “The Hungry Caterpillar,” “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” The Monster at the End of this Book,” and anything written by Dr. Seuss. I did not enjoy coloring or writing anywhere near the degree I loved reading. Even now my mother describes my handwriting similar to a doctor’s. She also states that I had a passion for using massive vocabulary words.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading when I was younger, that love slowly went away as I got older though. When I was little my parents always read to me and my sister every night. My favorite book was “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss, and I would say to my mom, “Mommy I read” because I knew that book so well. I would sit there and drag my finger along as I read through the pages. I picked up on reading pretty fast but would always get told to slow down because I was reading through too fast. Growing up while reading I never liked when I got a word I did not know. I hated sounding out words and would get frustrated with it. That was one of my biggest struggles in my process of learning to read. I also vividly remember having to go to speech therapy in first grade because I pronounced the letter Z like the letter S and would always have to partner up when reading so they could help correct that problem.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little I always excelled in reading and language. By the time I was five years old I was already reading. My mother hired a tutor from kindergarten to fifth grade because she worked in Pittsburgh at the time and wouldn’t be home early enough to get me from school and get all my work done. My tutor Mrs. Carol, was a linguistic specialist and focused on making me as prepared as possible. My mom tended to have me fall asleep to cartoons that focused on phonics and pronunciation. My favorite books were the gold-binded “Little Golden Books” they are Disney classics that I grew very fond of. One funny thing I did mispronounce, was daiquiri. I missed pronounced daiquiri in front of a Red Lobster waitress we had, it was quite embarrassing. I actually have always enjoyed talking in front of people, because I have done quite well when I do. When I was little I tended to talk to myself a lot (let me be honest, I still do this) and my mom told me that I would talk to my barbies and narrate their “lives.”
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I was an active little kid. I loved running outside, playing the Wii, and for some reason jumping down the stairs. But when I finally settled down, I always enjoyed my mother reading me a bedtime story. A matter of fact, my mother often tells me that I read the books to her. I often repeated the books I liked most; for example “Green Eggs and Ham” because I knew the whole book by heart. Back in elementary school, it was the same thing. I was reading the same books over and over again like “Diary a wimpy of a kid.” Even though I knew my reading level was much higher, I still enjoyed the goofy mishaps in each of those classics. The repetition of the basic cite words really advanced my reading skills which led to me being in the position of reading I’m in now.
ReplyDeleteAt a very young age, I would love to read books every night. My favorite books were Junie B. Jones, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See, The Rainbow Fish, and Just Say Please. In every book that I would read, I would point out all of the pictures I would see. I enjoyed reading so much that I would make my own books and draw my own pictures in them. I started to draw my own books when I started to learn to write. I struggled to say the word fries, so I would say pies instead. My brother's name was hard to pronounce when I was younger, so I used to call him buddy instead. One word I would always say was bubba, because I would love to drink my bottle as a child. When my grandma taught me my abc’s, I would walk around the house singing them all day. My grandma and mom would always sing to me as a young child. When I got old enough, I would love to dance and sing for my family. I wouldn’t be able to sleep without my baby doll that I would carry around with me everywhere. My grandpa would always wink at me, and I would always just blink with both eyes back at him. I thought that I was actually blinking, but I really wasn’t. My family found it very funny when I would do this.
ReplyDeleteWhile talking to my parents about my early experiences and interactions with language, one thing the younger me did stood out. My parents told me I used to speak on my brother’s behalf even though he never had the need to ask for anything. A good example of this is when my brother asked for snacks. I do not remember doing this; however, I was informed that I retrieved anything my little brother wanted. My parents told me I would walk up to them and explain how my brother needed more snacks or another cookie while he was still eating the first. They would give me what I begged for, and I toke it to my younger sibling. My parents found this repeating cycle rather funny, and I do too. This was one of the first ways I used my developing language skills.
ReplyDeleteYou wanna know something fUnNY? Many people around me (teachers, some family members, etc.) thought I was autistic :) because I didn't start talking until I was 4 years old. Turns out I was just a late bloomer :); I had to take speech therapy for a few years until the end of second grade. However, even before I turn 4, I was selective of who I talked to. According to my parents, I would often rap about day. I mean every. little. detail. "I wake up. I brush teeth. I put my clothes on..." My dad was pretty strict when it came to my academics(he still is) so I often did work book to enhance my skills in both reading and math. My favorite books as a child were "Corduroy" and Disney Princess books.
ReplyDelete